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Katoya Raquell Palmer

A life lived in thought, taste & presence.

Writer, systems strategist, and maker. I move between the boardroom and the kitchen, the essay and the breath — and I build things that help people see clearly and live well.

Katoya Palmer
LOUISIANA-BORN  ·  Pacific Northwest
As seen on
All My Friends Are DopeConverge MediaThe Day With TraeConverge MediaVoices of BellevueSeptember 2026Beyond Compliance TheaterWA Nonprofit Conference 2026In Real TimeThe podcastBest of the Best NWThe Seattle Medium
The Seattle Medium · Best of the Best Northwest — 1st Runner-Up 2026
Thank you, Pacific Northwest

1st Runner-Up for Best Community Leader.

Top two across the Pacific Northwest in The Seattle Medium's Best of the Best Northwest 2026. To every hand that voted, every organization I've served, and every reader who's kept up with the work — this is your win too. Deepest thanks.

Read the announcement → Announced 2026
The throughline

One person, three appetites.

Katoya Palmer,operations leader · food creator · community producer · writeroperations leader, food creator, community producer and writer
Thought

How systems hold — or fail.

Commentary, storytelling, and the operating mind behind two decades of leadership. Where ideas become infrastructure.

  • Five Windows into a Fragile Economy
  • ToyBox Consulting & Management
Taste

Eating well, on purpose.

From restaurant tables to my own kitchen and garden — eating well, cooking in, and the rituals of a life lived deliciously.

  • Lipstick on My Fork
  • SZND by Katoya
Presence

Staying whole in the middle.

Mindfulness for people living in the thick of it — leadership, caregiving, and the long, messy middle of a life.

  • Mindfulness in the Middle
The work & the brands

Everything I'm building.

Different rooms, one sensibility — rigor and warmth, in equal measure. Step into whichever is calling you.

Thought · Consulting

ToyBox Consulting & Management

The operational infrastructure that lets mission-driven organizations do their work. My systems mind, for hire.

Visit ToyBox →
ToyBox Consulting and Management
Presence · Mindfulness

Mindfulness in the Middle

Where it started: my healing journey, a path to finding myself again. Grounding practice for people leading, caregiving, and holding it together in the thick of it.

Explore →
Mindfulness in the Middle
Taste · Home & Garden

SZND by Katoya

My recipes, my garden, my DIY — the homemade, seasonal life, made by hand and in season.

Explore →
SZND by Katoya
Taste · Dining Out

Lipstick on My Fork

Flirty, gluttonous, decadent — eating my way through the restaurant scene, lipstick intact.

Explore →
Lipstick on My Fork
Event recap

Recently produced.

Gatherings designed for connection, built in the same room as the work.

Aug
23
2026
Event recap · Produced by Katoya

Golden Hour Unboxed

A cross-cultural celebration of Black entrepreneurship on the Eastside, held at Bellevue Botanical Garden. Presented by ToyBox Consulting & Management as part of the City of Bellevue's Cross-Cultural Center without Walls.

See the event recap →
Katoya Palmer speaking
Who I am

I've lived both sides of almost everything.

I've held a Section 8 voucher and I've sat in the COO's chair of a $12M organization. I've built financial systems and I've built a really good pot of greens. The range isn't a contradiction — it's the whole point.

I was born in Shreveport and grew up in Minden, Louisiana — until 1990, when I moved to Auburn, Washington, then Seattle, and Bellevue since 2020. I've built a life, and a body of work, in every one of those rooms.

“Inclusion is not charity. It is infrastructure.”

I'm a writer, a systems strategist, a researcher, and a maker — appointed three times by the State of Washington, published, peer-selected to speak, and endlessly curious about how people and systems stay whole.

Where I serve
  • Interim Treasurer, SPLASHForward
  • Board, The Sophia Way · Governance Committee
  • Board, Bellevue Chamber
  • Member, WA Commerce CRP Sea-King LAT
2008
Leading operations since
2021
Founded ToyBox Consulting & Management LLC
10
City of Seattle consultant rosters I was selected to
4
Board and civic seats
More of my story →
The weekly letter

Thought, Taste & Presence.

Every Monday, one email with everything I shared that week: essays, ToyBox lessons, SZND recipes and Lipstick on My Fork reviews, plus where I'll be next.

Read past letters →

Run a nonprofit or small business? ToyBox's Out the Box arrives once a month.